Reverb 10, Day 30: Gift

Over the month of December, I am taking part in Reverb 10, and the daily prompt for today from is this:

Gift.
This month, gifts and gift-giving can seem inescapable. What's the most memorable gift, tangible or emotional, you received this year?

OH. MY. GOD.

My bad attitude isn't waning.

I QUIT DRINKING, AND REVERB 10 KEEPS BRINGING IT UP, WHICH, FINE, OKAY, I GET THAT, BECAUSE QUITTING DRINKING WAS PRETTY DAMN DEFINING AND SPECIAL AND LIFE-CHANGING, BUT I'M JUST NOT IN THE MOOD TO KEEP TALKING ABOUT IT, AND I'M ALSO JUST NOT IN THE MOOD TO DEFLECT THE TOPIC BY PRETENDING SOMETHING ELSE WAS MY GREAT AND PRECIOUS GIFT, SO, GODDAMNIT, MY MOST MEMORABLE GIFT THIS YEAR WAS GIVEN TO ME BY MYSELF, OKAY, AND IT WAS SOBRIETY.

I almost feel driven to run to the kitchen and suck down a bottle of vanilla extract, except I won't, because a) that's disgusting, and b) we only have the cheap stuff, which would probably make me go blind or something.

*throws down mic*

*stomps off stage*

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PS.  I hello-kittied the Palinode.

Reverb 10, Day 29: Defining Moment

Over the month of December, I am taking part in Reverb 10, and the daily prompt for yesterday from Kathryn Fitzmaurice is this:

Defining moment.
Describe a defining moment or series of events that has affected your life this year.

As far as Reverb 10 is concerned, I'm done with talking about "moments". I already talked about important moments over the last year in Day 3, Day 12, Day 24, and Day 27, and so many of the other prompts had me talking about those moments, and now I'm done. I feeling like I'm overmilking my moments.

I quit drinking in August, and then I kept not drinking every day until this moment. It was pretty damn defining. I am stalwart in the face of alcoholism. There.

Now I feel guilty about my attitude.

Reverb 10, Day 28: Achieve

Over the month of December, I am taking part in Reverb 10, and the daily prompt for two days ago from Tara Sophia Mohr is this:

Achieve.
What’s the thing you most want to achieve next year? How do you imagine you’ll feel when you get it? Free? Happy? Complete? Blissful? Write that feeling down. Then, brainstorm 10 things you can do, or 10 new thoughts you can think, in order to experience that feeling today.

I want to keep moving forward with Ninjamatics and the Canadian Weblog Awards and writing here at Schmutzie.com, and it will make me feel exactly that, free and happy and complete and blissful, for the most part. This is what I love to do, and this is what I'll keep doing.

When it comes to doing ten things to experience these feelings right now, I'm doing them:

1. Tabulating jury scores for the 2010 Canadian Weblog Awards
2. Writing weblog entries
3. Taking photos
4. Designing graphics
5. Consuming coffee
6. Hanging out on Twitter and Facebook
7. Working my extra offline job to keep things tenable
8. Cuddling cats
9. Attending and speaking at conferences
10. Plotting domination of 2011

Reverb 10, Day 27: Ordinary Joy

Over the month of December, I am taking part in Reverb 10, and the daily prompt for today from Brené Brown is this:

Ordinary joy.
Our most profound joy is often experienced during ordinary moments. What was one of your most joyful ordinary moments this year?

I believe I already covered my bit of ordinary joy with Day 3: Moment, in which I talked about lunch at Il Corso in New York with the Palinode, Kate, and Maggie.



There were likely many more more moments of ordinary joy this year, like when I discovered arrabbiatta or when I walked through warmish evening air in Toronto during Blissdom Canada while snow raged back home, but that lunch was pretty damn good, and I don't think that I've fully convinced Kate and Maggie that I'm stalking them yet.

Reverb 10, Day 26: Soul Food

Over the month of December, I am taking part in Reverb 10, and the daily prompt for today from Elise Marie Collins is this:

Soul food.
What did you eat this year that you will never forget? What went into your mouth & touched your soul?

I will never forget that 2010 was the year that I discovered arrabbiata sauce via the Palinode. Arrabbiata sauce is spicy, hearty, and easy to fling together when you're not in the mood to hang over the stove for very long. Also, I could eat it every single day. I crave it like I crave chocolate ice cream.


photo credit: Timothy Vollmer

Arrabbiata Sauce

¼ cup olive oil
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 can diced tomatoes, drained

Fry the above ingredients together, minus the tomatoes, until the garlic is browned but not burnt.

Turn off the heat to allow the pan to cool for approximately one minute in order to avoid excess spatter during the next step.

Add the tomatoes and turn the heat back up to medium. Continue to cook the sauce for another 10 to 15 minutes.

Serve over spaghetti – I prefer the rice variety – or pasta of your choice.

When I am so moved, I also like to fry a diced onion with the garlic and add 1 tsp of oregano and a ½ tsp of basil when I add the tomatoes.

Now, go cook this up. You and your soul can thank me later.